The Common Room Fight
by rainbowmai
Summary: Peter watches a strange encounter between Edmund and his friend once they returned from Narnia.


Peter rounded the corner to the common room. He was looking for the little brat that had ruined his notes then ran off. Before he could find the boy his eyes landed on a cluster of younger boys with his brother in the middle. Peter snuck closer to the group staying in the shadows so he wouldn't be noticed.

"… Imported all the way from Sweden. It's supposed to be the best there is." One of the boys, which Peter recognized as one of Edmunds mates seemed to be bragging.

"Come on then let us see." A small weasel-like boy stepped in. "I won't believe you until I've tried it for myself."

The first boy revealed a container full of something that Peter couldn't quite make out. He seemed to be handing each boy a something out of the container. "Here you go Ed. I saved the biggest piece for you. I know how much you love this stuff." Edmund had stiffened and was looking almost afraid of whatever was in the boy's hand.

The weasel-like boy seemed to notice also because he started taunting Peter's brother "What's wrong is little Eddie afraid of the scary Turkish Delight?"

Peter's heart almost ached for his brother. Was he really not over this yet? Did he still blame himself? Edmund just stood frozen. "What's wrong Ed? I thought you loved Turkish Delight. Now you're just a statue."

"Don't say that" Edmund snapped out of his trance. "I was never a statue and never will be!"

"Okay, okay. Calm Down. It was just a metaphor."

"Eddie's afraid of statues and Turkish Delight! Oh, this is just too perfect! Is widdle Eddie afraid of me too? Am I too scary for him?" Peter was getting the strong urge to clobber that small freak.

Edmund seemed to be struggling over something in his head. "I'm not afraid." he finally said "I'm certainly not afraid of you, Sebastian. I've fought things far worse then you and not been afraid. I'm not afraid of anything."

"Fought things worse than me? I highly doubt that." The weasel boy, who must be Sebastian, ran over and drew one of the swords from the ornamental sword crossing over the fireplace. "If you're so brave then prove it. Fight me. You said yourself you've fought much worse than me. So prove it."

"I don't want to fight you." Edmund held his head high.

The Sebastian playfully poked his sword in Edmunds direction. "I knew it! You're too afraid. You're just a scared little wimp."

Peter felt himself growl and almost stepped out of the shadows to confront the boy. No one teases his little brother. Especially after all he's been through. All that Peter himself put him through.

Before Peter could show himself Ed spoke up. "I'm not afraid. I just don't want to hurt you." The boys around them all let out a group "ohhhh!"

"Hurt me? Well somebody things they're a big man. I might have to show you who's the real man around here." Sebastian thrust his sword in Edmund's direction, obviously planning to nick him in the chest. But Ed quickly stepped back and avoided the sword.

"I told you I don't want to fight you. And you know absolutely nothing about being a man."

"Right" Sebastian scoffed. "And you do. I knew you were just a big chicken." The boy thrust forward again and Edmund kept backing up. Soon Ed's back was to the wall and the weasel had a smirk on his face. "Now what? You have nowhere to go." The sword was swung in Ed's direction right on path for a severe blow. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath as the sword swished through the air. But there was no impact. In the blink of an eye Edmund had ducked and spun under the blade ending up behind Sebastian's back. To anyone else it might have appeared that Edmund just teleported a meter away but Peter could clearly see a well-executed Narnian battle maneuver.

Edmund reached from his current position and neatly plucked the sword out of the boy's hands. "I told you I don't want to fight you." Edmund just turned his back and walked away ignoring Sebastian's cold glares.

"Oh you don't want to fight me huh?" The boy quickly dashed forward and grabbed the other sword from the wall. "I'll make you fight!" He charged at Ed's back, sword draw.

Ed quickly spun around and deflected the boy's blow with the other sword. "Stabbing someone in the back is a cowardly act on any level. Anyone who has a shred of training could tell you that."

"Oh so now your calling me a coward and stupid?" Sebastian stepped back and swung his sword again.

Edmund easily blocked the blow. "No I'm calling you an uneducated child. Come back to me once you grow up a little. Then I might be willing to spar with you."

"Oh that's it! You are going down!" Sebastian threw a series of jabs, and slices; each of which were blocked smoothly by Edmund.

"You have no more skill then a child. It's dangerous for me to fight you. You don't know what you're doing and might make a bad move and accidently hurt someone."

"Oh I'm dangerous all right. And I'm certainly going to hurt someone. But it won't be an accident."

Edmund blocked another attempt and twisted his sword hilt throwing the unskilled boy off balance. "I told you I won't fight you. You should stop now while you're ahead or I will be forced to actually fight you."

The weasel tried for a side swipe and missed "We are fighting you nitwit. You're pathetic."

"This is nothing more than a child's play bout, and it ends here." Edmund jabbed forward and caught the hilt of the other boy's sword then turned his own sword and drew back effectively disarming the other boy.

Sebastian was now defenseless and looked shocked for a minute before his face pulled into a scowl. "Only I can decide when a fight is over."

He threw himself at Edmund and tackled him to the ground trying to grab his sword back. Edmund must have seen it coming because he quickly flipped the boy other onto his back and positioned himself so that Ed was sitting on the weasel's chest with his sword pointed at the boy's neck. "I said the fight is over. You got it."

Ed glanced around the room and seemed to notice all the other boys had stopped talking and were staring at him. "Well the shows over you can go back to your work now." Edmund got up from the boys chest and hung the swords back on the wall, and then walked back over to his mates. "You still got that piece of Turkish Delight? I could really use it right now."

Peter smirked and left the common room. His little brother was growing up after all. He'll be just fine.


End file.
